


Apocalyptale

by StarlightPatronus



Category: Undertale
Genre: AU, Apocalypse, Apocalyptale
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-13 10:04:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10511538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarlightPatronus/pseuds/StarlightPatronus
Summary: An AU where the surface has changed dramatically while Frisk was inside Mt. Ebott.https://apocalyptale-au.tumblr.com/





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Check out this really bad concept art I made! It needs to be updated; Chara, Frisk, and Asriel need to be slightly taller and Asriel needs little horns.  
> http://i.imgur.com/oTjU46R.png

“Ready, kiddo?”

“We’re right behind you!”

“Do not worry, my child.”

“C’mon, punk! Let’s go!”

“Y- yeah!”

“I am ready if you are.”

“Tch. Whatever. I guess.”

“Chara, be nice! ...We’re ready Frisk,” Asriel says with a nod. Frisk nods back and looks over her smiling friends. With a twinge of apprehension, she looked to Sans, her best friend since she had fallen down Mount Ebott all those years ago.

“Hey, it’s okay. Aren’tcha eager to go home? See your family? I know you put off breaking the barrier for a few years, but there’s a reason you decided to go through with it now, right?”

Frisk thought. _Why am I so scared?_ She took a deep breath. _Determination. I have to have determination._

Frisk has been in the Underground for ten years. She’s grown alongside friends and what she could call her family.

 _Of course it’s reasonable to feel scared. This is my home. I’ve changed_ **_with_ ** _home. Out there…_

Frisk shook her head, clearing her thoughts, and faced the barrier. With a slow, deep breath, she stepped through. Blinding white light seemed to come from everywhere. She tightly shut her eyes, but the light didn’t get any better. A gust of wind threatened to knock her over. A skeletal hand was placed on her shoulder, encouraging her to move on.

Just as she thought the light was going to melt her eyes, it receded. She blinked hard, clearing away the after images. She lifted her head and saw she was on a cliff, overlooking a forest during a sunrise.

_Whoa._

Frisk stared at the sunrise, forgetting how beautiful it was. She was soon accompanied by everyone else, also captivated by its beauty.

“You got to see this every _day?_ ” Papyrus said.

“It’s just a ball of light,” Chara said.

“A beautiful one,” said Asriel in awe.

“Gay.” Chara playfully punched Asriel in the bicep.

“Children, _please_ ,” Toriel scolded. Asriel and Chara ran off, laughing and punching each other. Frisk giggled, watching them.

The sky was a pastel indigo color streaked with pink and dark blue clouds. Sunlight filtered through the evergreen trees below, casting long shadows on the side of the mountain. A gentle breeze kissed Frisk’s cheek, smelling of damp earth and pine.  
She turned to look at everyone. Mom and Dad, Alphys and Undyne, Sans and Papyrus… They stuck with her through thick and thin. Even through that embarrassing mishap with Asriel. Sans ruffled Frisk’s hair, smiling. She laughed and looked over everyone. They were smiling, too.

 _This is it_ , she thought. _We’ll finally be able to live in harmony with the humans._

“Are you excited to go home?” Asgore asked.

“Well,” Frisk said, rubbing her arm. “This _was_ my home. But I’m excited for this new milestone in our lives. I can’t wait for you all to meet everyone back in my old town,” she said, smiling.

“That’s very sweet of you, dear,” Toriel said.

“Hey,” Papyrus said, shading his eyes from the light and squinting. “Are those… buildings?”

Frisk turned to see what he was talking about. She could just make out the faint silhouette of dilapidated skyscrapers. “I thi-” Before she could answer, Chara screamed in the distance. Undyne and Papyrus immediately darted towards the sound, followed by the rest of the group, led by Frisk. Chara wouldn’t stop screaming. As they got closer, they could hear Asriel trying to shush him.

“Guys, look! Monsters have already made it to the surface!” He said, smiling.

Behind him was not a monster, but a mutated human. It was horribly disfigured and gurgling, stumbling towards Chara and Asriel with a crooked, outstretched arm.

“Wowie! I’ve never seen monsters like _these_ before! How did you get to the surface, my friend?” Papyrus asked, holding out his hand to shake the mutant’s.

Frisk stared in shock. All of the blood drained from her face. “Guys… That’s not a monster… That- that’s a human!” Frisk started hyperventilating and close to tears. Undyne grabbed Papyrus’ scarf and yanked him backwards before the mutant could touch him, throwing him behind her.

“The- these are humans?” Alphys asked. “Th- they can’t be, in my anim- I- I mean research, they look like t- taller versions of Fr- Frisk and Chara.”

“What’s _wrong_ with you guys!?” Chara screamed, fighting off Asriel’s attempt at calming him down. “Something’s wrong,” Frisk agreed. Chara smacked off Asriel’s hands and walked away from the slow, bulbous creature. “Whatever it is, it’s not human anymore,” he said.

The mutant stumbled to the side and groaned. Dark, slightly chunky ooze spilled out of what used to be its mouth, splashing on the ground.

“ _Kill it!_ ” Chara yelled.

Without hesitation, Sans’ eye started flaming. He raised his hand and several magic bones shot out of the ground, spearing it off the concrete. It was still alive, gurgling and hissing. Everyone stared at it until Undyne sliced its head off with a magic spear.

“Well, that was certainly strange,” Asgore said, looking at the head.

Frisk looked up. All of the buildings have collapsed, leaving no more than a story or two still standing. Cars were still on the road, badly damaged, most of the doors missing. The smell of burn and rot stung her nose. It was too quiet for a city.

“We have to go back,” she said. “We have to stay inside the mountain. Something isn’t right, this isn’t supposed to be like this.”

“Yeah. I agree,” Chara said, looking around. “Something’s wrong with the air.”

“But we just got out,” Alphys said.

“If Frisk and Chara think the Underground is safer than here, we need to listen to them,” Toriel said.

So they all hiked back up the mountain where the barrier was, none of them speaking a word. Frisk sadly looked over the city, more of it visible now that the sun had risen. When they got to the top, Chara was the first to try to get back in.

Try.

“What gives!? I can’t get back in!” He yelled, shoving against the barrier with his shoulder. The barrier seemed to move like oil, but flickered like a dying light bulb.

“Oh no,” Sans said. “That’s not good. Outta the way, kid.” Chara backed away as Sans summoned a Gaster Blaster.

“No, Sans! Stop!” Papyrus yelled, pushing Sans’ arm down. “You’ll only cause harm to the mountain. If your blasters didn’t break the barrier before, why would they now? Something is clearly wrong with the magic.”

“Or the humans planned it that way,” Undyne bitterly said.

“Hmmm…” Alphys got close to the barrier and inspected it. “N- no, Papyrus is correct. U- um, the m- magic must have been damaged by something… n- not physical.”

“What do you mean by that?” Frisk asked.

“Radiation.”


	2. A New Beginning (And a Hundred Ketchup Bottles)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone gets ready to head into the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, as you may have noticed, Frisk is a girl and Chara is a boy. However, I may mess up once or twice and accidentally refer to Chara as a "she", so point it out if you see a mistake I've looked over!
> 
> Check out the tumblr for this AU! It'll include updates, art, and general nonsense for the AU.   
> https://apocalyptale-au.tumblr.com/

Frisk’s jaw dropped.  _ Radiation? No, that can’t be. _

“What’s radiation?” Papyrus asked.

“I- it’s basically invisible stuff that harms cells in large amounts,” Alphys explained.

“So how did large amounts of radiation get here?” Chara asked.

Everyone thought for a moment. “Th- there could be many reasons,” Alphys answered.

Frisk thought hard, but she was so young when she fell down into the mountain that she didn’t have a wide understanding of things. She recalled her parents nervously watching the television every night and the small room under the basement her dad liked to use as a pantry.

“Either way,” Asriel said. “We can’t just stay here. It’s dangerous and we obviously can’t get back into the mountain.” Everyone shared nods of agreement.

“Where would we go?” Asked Toriel.

“My house,” Frisk said. “My dad had a bunch of canned food he liked to keep in the basement. We could go there first and see if we can stock up on food and go from there. It might not be as bad outside of the city.”

“Wait!” Undyne exclaimed, suddenly excited. “I have a cell phone!”

“How is  _ that  _ supposed to help?” Chara sneered, crossing his arms.

“We can call the other monsters in the mountain!” Papyrus answered for him, taking out his own cell phone.

“Oh, yeah!” Frisk took out hers as well. She looked through her contacts and decided to call Mettaton. She clicked on his contact, speed dialing him.

 

_...brrr… _

_...brrr… _

_...brrr… _

_ “Oh, hello, darling! Have you made it out of the mountain?” _ _   
_ “Mettaton! Something is wrong. The surface is destroyed and there’s… mutated humans. Alphys says there’s radiation. We can’t get back through the barrier!”

_ “...” _

“Mettaton?”

_ “Fear not, my dear. Mettaton will help as much as he can.” _

_...click… _

 

“What’d he say?” Sans asked.

Frisk shrugged. “He said he’d help as much as he can? Whatever that means.”

“...Okay. Thank you! Bye!” Papyrus turned to everyone. “Just got off the phone with Muffet. She said she’ll warn everyone not to leave the mountain.”

Sans suddenly gasped and snatched Frisk’s phone, frantically dialing someone. “Sans?” She asked curiously. He had a look of desperation on his face.

“Grillbz, quick, I need you to get as many bottles of ketchup as you have and throw them through the barrier. Just  _ throw  _ ‘em. It’s an emergency!” There was a silence. “No time to explain,  _ just don’t come through the barrier _ .” He hung up and handed the phone back to Frisk, his face returning to its natural lazy state. “Welp, I’m set.” Papyrus glared at him. 

Sans looked up at Papyrus and smiled. “Don’t,” Papyrus warned, his eyes narrowing.

“Don’t be so  _ stern _ -um,” Sans said, smiling wider.

“NYEH!” Papyrus threw his arms up in exasperation as everyone laughed. Chara even managed a smile. 

Just then, the barrier warbled and pulsated, drawing everyone’s attention. They stared as Mettaton’s leg stuck out of the barrier at a 110 degree angle, followed by the rest of him, sauntering out. He was holding two large handbags and several backpacks.

“Heeelllooo, beauties!” He sang out, setting the bags on the ground.

“Mettaton!” Frisk exclaimed, smiling.

“Wh- what are you doing here?” Asked Alphys frantically. “The barrier is b- busted!”

“Yes, well,” Mettaton said as he sifted through a brown rucksack. “Fashion  _ does  _ come with a sacrifice.” He pulled out a light brown bomber jacket and a worn red bandana and looked at Frisk, who was beaming. She ran to grab them and immediately put them on.

“Thank you!” She said, hugging herself.

“But of course,” he said, smiling. “You just simply  _ can’t _ fight hideous creatures without making a statement. And I know you’re attached to them.” Mettaton bent down, closed the rucksack and handed it to Frisk. “I got everyone some supplies. Some clothes, a bit of food, things like that.” He handed everyone else a backpack as well.

“You were so fast,” Papyrus said in awe.

“I considered it a fashion emergency,” Mettaton replied, smiling. “Remember that cloak you made for human Halloween that one year? I packed that for you.”

“Wowie, Mettaton! You’re the best!” Papyrus dug through his backpack and pulled out a long, red cloak. He put it on and marvelled at it. “You even stitched the tear!”

“I  _ am  _ a machine of efficiency,” Mettaton drawled, turning his head to the side and placing a hand on his chest, smirking. “And Toriel, dear, I brought you clothes that are much suited for this type of scenario.” Toriel opened her backpack and found knee length light blue jean shorts and a white sleeveless blouse with small strawberries printed on it.

“This is lovely, Mettaton. Thank you,” she said, smiling.

“I also gave outfits to everyone else but Undyne,” Mettaton said, rifling through his own bags before looking up at Undyne and smiling. “Her outfit is  _ flawless  _ for our situation.”

“Uh… Thanks?” Undyne said.

“Not a problem, my dear.”

Everyone sifted through their bags to see what they got. 

Sans got a dark grey beanie, a jacket of the same color Mettaton  _ swore  _ was in season and much sturdier than the one he had on, black fingerless gloves with rubber grips on them, and sneakers to replace his bunny slippers. He also got popato chisps and a hot dog wrapped in tin foil. Seeing the hot dog made Sans start to tear up, smiling. He slipped on his new clothes and fought back the urge to eat the hot dog right away.

Papyrus, along with his cloak, got a black long sleeved shirt and black leggings, red knee length tabi boots, a cinnamon bunny, and magical instant spaghetti. Papyrus questioned about the strange boots, and Mettaton replied saying they helped with stealth. Papyrus happily replaced his current boots with the tabi boots and went behind a rock to put on the shirt and leggings under his armor.

Chara got chocolate, bandages, a spider donut, a football helmet he had put fake horns on for a game he and Asriel played, and a torn notebook. He was secretly extremely happy mettaton included chocolate.

Frisk got her heart locket, astronaut ice cream, monster candy, and her favorite t-shirt (which she found in the dump) of a bunny in an army tank wearing a helmet.  _ How fitting.  _ After Papyrus was done behind the rock, she went to put it on.

Toriel got two cinnamon bunnies, white and blue striped flats, bandages, and a couple books she had in her library about humans.

Asgore got his pink shirt with white flowers on it, jeans, a pack of heavy duty hair bands, a trident sharpening and polishing kit, butterscotch pie, a few cinnamon bunnies, and sea tea bags.

Asriel got his favorite purple plaid button up shirt, instant noodles, a few crab apples, and pumpkin rings. He tied the plaid shirt around his waist, flapping in the wind against his black, torn skinny jeans.

Undyne got a spear sharpening kit, an extra eye patch, war paint, her leather jacket, a legendary hero, and magical instant spaghetti.

Alphys got a few cups of instant noodles, a spider donut, and a completely new outfit. Dark gray shorts, a pink 3/4th sleeve shirt with black sleeves with some weird foreign writing on it, black thigh high socks, and pink hi top canvas sneakers. She also got a pink ribbon she likes to tie in a bow on the tip of her tail. She blushed. “M- M- Mettaton! This was so thoughtful of- of you. You didn’t have to!” Mettaton waved it off and she immediately changed, Undyne standing guard.

Everyone looked at each other after she was done, admiring each other’s new looks. Asgore didn’t change; he saved it for a warmer day. Suddenly Chara made a loud noise. “What am  _ I,  _ chopped liver? I want a new look!” He quickly took off his green hoodie with a single yellow stripe through it and tore off the sleeves. He threw them off the cliff with a grunt. He put his hoodie back on and smiled, satisfied.

“Is everyone ready to head out?” Frisk asked, putting her rucksack on. “As ready as we’ll ever be,” sighed Asriel. Just as they started walking, several bottles of ketchup rocketed out of the barrier, hitting Sans. 

“You’re an angel, Grillby!” He cried, falling to his knees. He scooped up at least twelve bottles in his arms, still being pelted in the head and side with more bottles. Tears were streaming down his face but looked like the happiest thing on the planet. The ketchup bombardment slowed until it finally stopped. Sans was lying in a fetal position, sucking on one of the bottles, silently crying.

“BROTHER! We must not dilly-dally, for Frisk is taking us to her human house!” Papyrus said, pointing in the air.

“I know, bro. Gimme a minute. I’ll catch-up with you guys in a bit.” Papyrus stormed off with a loud, “NYEH!” Frisk stayed behind with Chara and Asriel, waiting for Sans to collect himself and his ketchup bottles.

“I can’t believe Grillby actually did it,” Asriel said.

“He probably has a whole room full of ketchup just for Sans,” Chara said, smirking with half lidded eyes.

“It was very nice of him,” Frisk said, helping Sans up. As Asriel and Chara started to head down the mountain, Frisk looked off of the cliff, towards the city. She sighed slowly, frowning.

“Hey,” Sans said gently. “You okay, kiddo?”

“This was a mistake. It was my fault. I knew I should have trusted my gut feeling and not leave. I just wanted a better future for everyone, to live on the surface.”

“No, Frisk. You didn’t know this would happen. This isn’t your fault. You did what you thought was best. At least everyone else can stay inside the mountain.” Sans put an arm around Frisk’s shoulder, who was silent for a moment.

“But what if something  _ happens _ to you guys? You’re family, and judging from the city, the only family I’ve got right now.”

“Frisk, didja forget we have magic? A couple’a gross blobs ain’t gonna harm us.” Sans gave Frisk a hug. She tightly hugged back, clinging to him if he were a lifeboat. “Now let’s blow this bisicle stand, everyone’s waiting for us.” Frisk sighed, trying her best to smile. 

They regrouped at the base of the mountain, where Chara and Asriel found the mutant. “Alright,” sighed Frisk, hiking up her rucksack. “Time to go home.”


	3. Things Get Weird

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe the city isn't the best place right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> •forgets about mettaton  
> •forgets to make frisk optimistic and hopeful as cannon frisk is  
> •doesn't have a plot  
> •can't keep up with all the characters  
> This story is going great!

The whole city was being reclaimed by nature. Because it was built in a forest, trees had no problem turning cement into dust and crumbs. Cars had been overturned. The ones that were on their sides had grass and wildflowers growing through broken windows. Grass grew where it could in the cracked asphalt and concrete wherever there wasn’t a large puddle of water. The buildings had collapsed, the tallest one being around four stories. Windows were smashed in all the buildings. Frisk stopped walking to look in a convenience store, everyone continuing to walk.

Something was moving. Moving under the crumbled drywall, shelves, and debris. She took a step closer only to be pushed along by Sans, who only shook his head with a face that said _Don’t_.

“I don’t like it here,” Papyrus said quietly. “It’s too quiet. It gives me the creeps.” Everyone was silent, but agreed.

They wove their way around several cars and trucks that were left in the street, feet crunching against debris. As they made their way through the city, Frisk noticed what looked like three-foot long claw marks splitting the metal on cars and cutting through buildings. She shuddered, hoping it was just her imagination.

Undyne, who was leading the group, suddenly stopped and held out a hand to motion for everyone to do the same. “Shh,” she said quietly. She turned her head, listening intently. She summoned a spear. Her body tensed. Sans’ eye flamed and he stanced himself, ready to fight. A low rumbling so powerful it shook the dust and rocks on the ground echoed through the streets, followed by an unholy screech.

“ _What the hell is that!?_ ” Screamed Chara.

“Kid, take Chara and get out of here. Now. I’ll come find you,” Sans said quickly. Frisk nodded and grabbed Chara’s hand. As they ran through the streets, Frisk looked to her side, down a one way street. Chara ran faster, now pulling Frisk. A behemoth of a mutant charged down an alley, screeching so loud Frisk winced. Chara quickly turned into another street, only allowing Frisk a glimpse of the mutant.

It looked like an elk buck, but twice the size of one with long, mangled horns with too many prongs. Its fur was piebald and had tumors all over it, some glowing a sickly pale yellow color. Patches of its fur was gone, revealing decaying flesh with rashes around it. It had short legs sticking out in random spots. Its eyes were wide and scared.

Chara and frisk ducked inside a metal dumpster, much to Frisk’s disgust. They watched as the elk ran into the street and turned, sliding a couple of feet. When it scrambled back to its feet, it headed in the monsters’ direction.

“Sans!” Papyrus yelled, scared. “What is that!?”

“Obviously some kind of animal,” Undyne answered, sticking out her spear as it charged at her, head down. She dodged as it got to her. It turned again, sliding. It called another time and reared, flailing its front legs. It charged again.

“Do we kill it?” Asriel asked, not wanting to. It’s another species with horns! How can he not like it?

“Sans, hold it,” Undyne instructed, ignoring Asriel’s question. Sans stuck his arm out. But nothing happened.

“ _Sans!_ ” Undyne screamed, dodging out of its way again. It turned its head and almost impaled Toriel.

“Nothing’s happening, man! I can’t grab its soul!” Sans yelled, extremely perturbed.

“Alright,” Asgore said flatly. “Enough.” He took off his crown and tossed it to Alphys. The buck turned around and stopped, seeing Asgore. He stanced, placing one leg behind him and lowering his head. The buck exhaled sharply and lowered its head, pawing the ground. “Let’s see how tough you are,” Asgore said, smiling.

The buck screeched and ran towards Asgore. He braced himself and caught the bucks horns in his own with a loud, clacking thunk. He put his hands on the ground and groaned, tangling his horns in the elk’s, careful not to get poked in the eye.

“Go, Dad!” Asriel cheered.

Asgore groaned with effort and threw the elk to the left, falling on its side. The weight of itself landing on its tumors caused them to rupture, shooting fluid out.

It hit Sans.

Sans started panicking even more and dry heaved. He screamed, trying to flick the thick yellow fluid off of him. Alphys threw up, turning away. Mettaton let out a disgusted yelp, covering his mouth. “Sans!” Papyrus yelled, starting to come over to him. Sans backed up and put a hand out. He paused, trying to regain his composure and then teleported away.

The elk got up, making pained whines. Undyne threw a spear through its ribcage, causing it to fall to its front knees. It cried loudly in distress as it struggled to get back up. It started running away and Undyne threw another spear, fatally striking it. It fell on the asphalt and slid into a car, breathing heavily.

“Sans!?” Papyrus called out after watching the elk fall. “Sans, where _are_ you?” He sounded scared. No one should be wandering off here, especially not alone. Frisk and Chara heard the commotion and came out of hiding, running to the monsters.

“Is Sans okay? Where is he?” Frisk asked worriedly, looking around. Chara went up to the elk and squatted down in front of it, watching it take one last huff before dying. He was tempted to poke it.

“Sans… Uh… Got squirted in tumor goop…” Asriel said, bothered by what he just saw.

“And then he teleported away!” Papyrus said, wringing his hands.

“We have to find him,” Asgore said, taking his crown from a sickened Alphys.

“No shit,” Chara said, standing back up and turning to face them.

“But where would he have gone?” Asked Toriel. No one gave an answer.

“We’re bound to find him somewhere,” Undyne finally said, turning back to the direction they were heading.

“W- what if we don’t?” Alphys said, looking at Undyne.

“Darling, I’m sure we will. He’s not one to abandon his friends,” Mettaton assured her.

“I guess we’ll just continue. He can teleport to any one of us, right?” Frisk said, trying to be optimistic. Everyone shared unsure nods of agreement, and continued on.

They walked through the city, following Frisk. Her memory was a bit fuzzy, but she eventually found her old home. It was a cute little house in the greater downtown area, right by a river that ran through the city and into the forest. Before it got destroyed and ruined by years of neglect and nature, it was a colorful, two bedroom house. There was a section of the house to the left of it that Frisk called a “castle tower”. That was her room. There was a garden in front and a white picket fence she and her parents painted their names on. Now, the colors had faded to a dull, lifeless color and half of the house had caved in. Most of the picket fence was gone.

A hand was placed on Frisk’s shoulder. “Are you alright, my child?”

Frisk sighed deeply. Apparently she had stared at what was left of her house for a bit too long. “Yeah. It’s just… Memories, y’know? Mom and Dad lived here with me since I was born. It’s just hard seeing my home like this. It makes me wonder if Mom and Dad are still alive.” No one said anything, sympathetic for Frisk.

“ _Weeelp,_ ” Chara said, walking up to the house and stretching his back with his arms crossed above his head. “This just got super awkward. I’m goin’ in.” Frisk followed.

What she saw inside broke her heart. The wallpaper was peeling off, there was dirt and dust covering every surface, wooden boards were nailed to the windows, and chunks of drywall littered the floor along with moldy couches and broken tables. The house had a dank, musty smell to it. Frisk hurried to the basement to get what she needed. She wanted out of there fast.

She pushed a fallen bookcase to reveal a metal hatch underneath a rug. She pulled on it, but it didn’t budge. She pulled harder. Still nothing. She called Chara over to help her and the both strained against the rusted hinges. Finally, after a long metallic groan, it opened. However, it was too dark to see into it.

“Oh hey, gimme a minute,” Chara said. He ran outside and returned with Asriel. “Do the thing!” Chara told him.

“Uh…” He said, looking down into the dark hole.

“C’mon, you wimp!” Chara pushed him into the hole and jumped after him. Frisk followed. After fighting back the urge to scream, Asriel summoned a ball of fire in his paw, lighting up the room. Everyone stared in disbelief.

“It looks exactly how it did ten years ago,” Frisk said, brushing her fingers against the wall.

“Looks like that's what it was built for,” Asriel said, looking in a box and finding dehydrated food, water bottles, and medicine.

“No, can’t be,” answered Frisk. “Dad used this as a pantry.”

“Weird pantry,” Chara said, looking at a map that was hanging on the wall. “Come take a look at this.”

Frisk and Asriel walked up to the large map, Asriel holding out his paw to illuminate it better. It was a map of the world. Some countries across the ocean were circled and had arrows pointing to their countries. A few were pointed at them in different colors.

“What is this?” Asked Asriel.

“That’s a map of the world,” Frisk answered.

“It… It’s so _big!_ ” Asriel was astonished.

“Obviously,” Chara said, smirking. “It’s to match our- _ghck!_ ” Frisk elbowed Chara in the stomach before he could finish his sentence.

“Let’s grab some stuff and get out of here,” she said, putting the box’s contents into her backpack.

“But aren’t you curious to know what the map means?” Asked Asriel.

“Not really. Take it down and put it in your backpack, if you want,” Frisk said as she pulled out a strange, yellow handheld device. She thought it looked important, however unsure of what it was, and put it in her backpack as well. She looked around for more supplies and found a few gas masks and a box of various fireworks. She took those as well.

After Asriel put the map in his backpack, he took what he could, as well. Chara did, too.

They exited the room and left the house, meeting the monsters outside. Sans had returned and looked very ill.

“Look Frisk, Sans has returned!” Papyrus said happily.

“Whoa,” she said, walking up to him. “You don’t look good. Are you okay?”

Sans’ eyes were jaded over and his shoulders were slightly slumped forward. “Yeah. Just feel kinda sick from the, uh… The goop…” His eyelights were gone.

Frisk looked at him worriedly. “We can set up a base somewhere and you can get some rest.”

“That’s a wonderful idea!” Toriel said.

“Yeah, but where?” Chara asked. Frisk thought for a moment.

“Somewhere out of the city,” she said. “There’s cabins in the forest on the side of the mountains. They were used as resorts. We can stay there for a while and figure out what to do from there.”

“All in favor of that plan, say aye!” Undyne said excitedly. Everyone said aye, except for Sans, who didn’t seem to hear anything after he talked.

“Oh,” Frisk said, taking out her backpack. “Alphys, I found this thing in my house, do you know what it is?” She handed Alphys the device.

“A- ah! This is a G- Geiger counter,” she said, examining it. “It measures r- radiation in the ar- area. Good find!” Alphys handed it back to Frisk, who turned it on. It slowly, gently clicked.

“Neat!” She turned it back off and put it in her backpack.

“Everyone ready?” Frisk asked. Everyone agreed. Papyrus picked Sans up and put him over his shoulder.

 

  ☢️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~☢️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~☢️

They arrived at a log cabin. Surprisingly, it was still intact. It was a luxury cabin so it comfortably fit everyone. Everyone had their own room except for Toriel and Asgore, Sans and Papyrus, and Alphys and Undyne, who shared rooms. Mettaton called dibs on the master bedroom.

Papyrus gently laid Sans into the bed when he got there.

“Hey, Paps…” Sans asked weakly, not looking up.

“Yes, brother?” Papyrus answered.

“I…” Sans started to say something, but stopped. “Can I get some water, please?”

“Of course, dear Sans! The Great Papyrus shall return momentarily.” Papyrus returned with a water bottle given by Frisk. Sans took a few sips and set it on the nightstand.

“I’m gonna catch a few Z’s,” he said, trying to smile.

“Just call if you need anything,” Papyrus said, patting Sans on the head.

“Thanks, bro,” Sans said, smiling and closing his eyes.

After Asriel and Chara were done beating each other with dusty pillows and butting heads with Chara’s helmet, they met the rest of the monsters and Frisk in the living room.

“We’ve got enough food and water to last us for a while if we ration,” Frisk said. “But that doesn’t mean we can stay here. We need to go somewhere where the radiation hasn’t spread.”

“But who knows how long it _has_ been spreading?” Mettaton asked.

“A long time ago, a country had a nuclear power plant accident after a tsunami hit it. It caused three reactors to meltdown and caused a huge mess of radiation. The wind carried it to our west coast within a couple of weeks. It didn’t do anything because of the massive space between the countries, but it did spread that quickly. Assuming this whole thing started ten years ago, it’s probably spread through the whole country. It’s lesser in some areas, depending on what happened where,” Frisk said.

“But how do we find that out? There’s no one for miles,” Asgore said.

“I guess we’re just gonna have to find some humans. Maybe leave the city. The state if we have to. But it’d be like a road trip! Only walking!” She said, smiling.

No one seemed to like that idea. Her smile faded. “C’mon, guys. I know you all know we can’t stay here forever.”

“It’s your fault we’re out here in the first place,” Chara said, crossing his arms.

Everyone’s eyes went wide and turned them to Chara.

“What?” He held out his arms like he genuinely didn’t know why he was being stared at.

Frisk teared up and quickly walked to her room, locking the door behind her. She flopped onto her bed, creating a cloud of dust.

“ _Asshole!_ ” Asriel hissed bitterly at Chara. He headed to Frisk’s room.

“Hey, wh-” Chara stopped and looked at everyone, who was staring at him with varying degrees of disappointment. He rolled his eyes and went to his own room.

“Frisk, are you okay?” Asriel said from her door. No answer. “Frisk, please open the door. I wanna talk to you.” A muffled sniffle was heard before gentle footsteps approached the door. Frisk creaked it open a couple of inches.

“Howdy,” he said, smiling and tilting his head. “May I come in?”

Frisk opened the door all the way and he walked in, sitting on the floor against the bed. Frisk shut the door and sat next to him.

“Chara didn’t mean that,” Asriel said. Frisk was silent. She didn’t believe him. “You know how he has to contradict literally everything. And he doesn’t want to admit it, but he’s scared. I can tell. His type generally can’t handle emotions well, y’know? So he takes it out on others. Didn’t you see how fast he ran when you all saw that mutant in the city? I’ve never seen him run that fast before. As much as he calls me a wimp, he is too. He’s just better at hiding it.” Asriel smiled and wiped away the dusty tears on Frisk’s face. “It’s no one’s fault we’re here. Everyone wanted to go out. We had no idea of knowing this was happening.”

“But I had a feeling, I _knew_ we shouldn’t have-”

“Hey, shush. Sometimes I get bad feelings too. But then it just turns out to be a fart.”

Frisk laughed and scrunched up her face, smiling. “Eww!”

“There’s that good ol’ Frisk smile. You get what I’m saying?”

Frisk looked up at Asriel. She remembered when he was shorter than her and didn’t have any horns. “Yeah,” she said, smiling.

Asriel hugged Frisk, rubbing her back just like she did to him when they were kids. Frisk sniffled and let out a short, breathy chuckle. “Guess I’m the crybaby now, huh?”

“A little bit,” Asriel joked. Frisk tightened the hug before she let go. “I’m gonna go give Chara a noogie or something,” Asriel said, standing up. He offered a hand to Frisk. She took it and stood up.

“Stay determined, Frisk.”


	4. Those Who Wander Into the Shadows Will Never Find Their Way Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The stress gets to more people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [WARNING] THIS CHAPTER MAY HAVE RAPE TRIGGERS  
> If you want to skip this chapter but still want to know what happened, a summary is at the bottom.  
> Also! If you would like to hear the noises the mutants they encounter make, head on over to this AU's tumblr page!  
> https://apocalyptale-au.tumblr.com/

Sans was the first to lose his magic.

He was startled awake by a roar and ran outside to see Undyne, Toriel, and Asgore fighting a large bear. Or, what _used_ to be a bear. It was a grizzly bear with two separate heads with bone plating on their foreheads, covering the top of their heads. Its fur was almost silver, with patches of black in placed like its ears, tail, and gradient on its paws. Its eyes were burnt orange.

Papyrus was hurt, sitting against the cabin. Sans rushed over to him and knelt, gently touching Papyrus’ face, about to tear up.

Papyrus feebly looked up at him. “It was pretty, Sans,” he weakly said. “I’m sorry.”

“Shh shh shh, it’s okay, I don’t blame ya,” Sans shakily answered.  
Long claw marks were engraved into Papyrus’ skull, ending on the side of his face. His right eye socket was chipped and cracked, the eyelight gone. A bite had crushed through his battle body armor’s shoulder, thankfully protecting his bones.

“I can’t see,” Papyrus said, tears spilling out. “My right eye. It’s all black, Sans. I’m scared.”

Sans started to shake with rage. He spun around to face the bear, swiping at Undyne. “ _Everybody stand back!_ ” He yelled. Everyone got out of Sans’ way. He stanced himself, ready to obliterate this monstrosity. He sharply raised his hand, expecting several jagged bones to spear the bear through its stomach, but nothing happened. He looked at his hand, confused. He put his hand to the side, expecting a bone to appear in his hand, but nothing happened. His brow furrowed and raised a hand again, expecting a Gaster blaster.

But nothing happened.

The bear charged and knocked down Toriel and raised an arm, but Asgore tackled it like a train before it hurt her. Sans looked down at his shaking hands, hyperventilating. Tears were spilling out of his eye sockets now. The adrenaline rush between him waking up and attacking made him oblivious to the empty feeling inside him.

“ _Sans, what the hell!?_ ” Undyne shouted, pissed off.

“Sans?” Papyrus asked, sounding more scared.

“Sans!” Frisk yelled, running and pushing Sans out of the bear’s way. “What’s wrong!?” Sans was lying on the ground with Frisk above him. He couldn’t process anything. Not even the bear that was about to maul her.

Undyne tackled it and wrapped her arms around one of its necks, hanging on tightly. It started running and shaking its head to knock her off. It ran off into the brush where a loud _snap_ echoed through the trees. The bear started crying and whimpering as it ran off. Undyne came back, panting.

“ _Sans!_ ” She yelled, stomping over to him. “That’s the _second_ time your magic failed. Because of you, Toriel could have gotten _seriously_ hurt!”

“A- actually,” Alphys piped up from the doorway. “Animals d- don’t have a soul. O- or at least I- I’m sure th- they d- don’t,” she added nervously as Undyne shot her a nasty look.

Sans was just staring into the sky, eyes wide and mouth slightly open, face streaked with tears.

“I can’t feel it,” he said.

“Feel what?” Frisk asked worriedly, kneeling next to him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

“My magic…” he said quietly. “It’s gone.”

“What? That’s impossible!” Shouted Undyne.

“Sans,” Papyrus whispered in disbelief.

“It’s just gone,” he laughed, placing a hand on his temple. He continued laughing, sitting up.

“Hey,” Frisk said gently, placing a hand on his chest.

Sans held out his hand to try to use his magic again, laughing harder. Tears were soaking his face now.

“Brother, please calm down,” Papyrus said. “You’re scaring me…”

“I- I can’t, I can’t do… What am I… I j-... I tried, I _tried_ ,” he said through hyperventilated laughing.

“Sans, it’s okay,” Frisk said reassuringly.

His laughter quieted down. He sniffled, wiped his eye with his jacket sleeve, and stood up. “I’m takin’ a walk.” He headed into the woods.

“Of course you are,” Undyne said bitterly. “You always run away when things go wrong. You never stick around, always avoiding responsibility.”

Sans stopped and stared ahead and smiled, his eyelights vanishing. Vague memories of once upon a time played through his mind. “Heh.” He closed his eyes and continued, hands in his jacket pockets.

“It’s not safe! You don’t-” Frisk stopped herself. She ran after Sans after quickly grabbing her backpack.

“Undyne, you don’t have to be so rude,” Papyrus said as loudly as he could. Which wasn’t very loud.

“If he didn’t come out here and tell us to move, Toriel wouldn’t have gotten trucked. Thankfully Asgore was here to save her, all Sans did was freeze like he always does!”

“U- Undyne, p- please calm down. Everything is f- fine now,” Alphys said timidly.

“Please lower your voice,” Asgore said calmly. “You’ll attract more.”

Undyne looked at Asgore and huffed. She went inside.

Alphys tended to Papyrus’ wounds. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do to repair the bone without her lab back home. She washed the cuts and wrapped his head in bandages, covering his right eye. Asgore picked him up and laid him in bed as Alphys made him some spaghetti.

“Thank you so much, Alphys,” Papyrus said, smiling.

“Anytime,” she replied, returning a smile. A few minutes later after she left, Undyne knocked on his door and entered, looking at the ground.

“Hey, Paps…” She said gently, rubbing the back of her head. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. I’m just really stressed. I’ve been protecting everyone, especially the king and queen even before I became captain of the royal guard, and seeing Toriel almost get seriously injured set me off. Seeing that thing attack you didn’t help either.” She looked up at Papyrus with apologetic eyes. “I didn’t mean to raise my voice at you. You’re still my number one buddy.”

Papyrus smiled. “Everyone is stressed right now, Undyne. Some are just better at hiding it. And it was my fault I got hurt. I’ve just never seen something so pretty before. I wanted to pet it. I guess it didn’t like pets.”

Undyne smiled. “Will you forgive me?”

“Of course, Undyne! If I didn’t, who would teach me to make spaghetti?”

Undyne smiled wider. “No one else can make spaghetti as good as I can, except for you. But hey,” Undyne walked to his side and held out her hand. Inside of it is an eye patch. “I got you something. You can wear it until your eye heals.”

Papyrus took the eye patch and beamed. “You mean it? Oh, Undyne. Thank you so much!”

Undyne gently noogied Papyrus’ head. “Anytime, champ.”

  
  ☢️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~☢️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~☢️  


“I never asked you to tag along, kid,” Sans said as he walked through the forest. He had a bottle of ketchup in his hand, mostly empty.

“I know,” Frisk replied.

“Then why’d you come?”

“Because you’re my best friend and I care about you. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

Sans turned around, facing Frisk. “Do you think just because I’ve lost my magic, it automatically means I can’t defend myself?”

Frisk looked at him with sorrowful eyes. Sans sighed. “You’re right. I can’t.” He turned around and started walking again. “But even so, you don’t have magic either, so we’re both screwed.”

Frisk thought for a moment. “Oh! I have some fireworks I got from my house, I’m sure it’d at least scare the animals away.”

Sans didn’t say anything. He took a swig from his ketchup. Seeing him like this broke Frisk’s heart. What’s a good way to cheer him up? Frisk thought for a moment.

_Puns._

“Hey, Sans,” Frisk said, grinning widely.

“Hm?”

“Why did the tomato blush?”

Sans slightly faltered in his steps but said nothing.

“He saw the salad dressing!”

“Kid, please,” he said adamantly.

“Did that not tickle your funny bone?”

Sans stopped walking, refusing to turn around. “ _...Frisk,_ ” he said, sounding almost choked.

“Oh, c’mon! Don’t be so _stern_ um!”

Sans started to tremble.

“I thought nothing got under your skin,” Frisk said, smiling wider.

That was all it took. Sans burst out laughing, falling on the ground. His face was blushing deeply from trying to hold in his laughter.

“I guess those were some _bone_ -afide jokes, huh?” Frisk said, grinning and squatting next to him.

“Y’know, I never really understood why Papyrus doesn’t like ketchup. I guess he doesn’t have the _stomach_ for it.”

“ _Kiiiiid,_ ” Sans whined hoarsely, tears forming in his eye sockets. It got to the point where he was laughing so hard, no sound was coming from him.

“Pretty humerus, right?”

Sans tightly shut his eyes, making the tears spill. He grabbed his ketchup bottle and quickly got to his feet, squirting it at Frisk. Frisk squealed and laughed, flicking the ketchup off. “You bonehead!” Frisk tackled Sans. She might have overdone it because they fell off the path and down a hill, rolling and laughing.

“Look, S- ow- Sans!” Frisk said as they were rolling. “You’re pract- _ow-_ practically rolling with laughter!”

When they reached the bottom of the hill, Sans got to his knees and scooted to Frisk, who was dying of laughter. Sans was still laughing, too. He grabbed Frisk’s shoulders and shook her. “I’m gonna force you to reset so that never happened!” He joked.

Frisk laughed harder and Sans let go of her. She plopped on the ground and he laid next to her, laughing as well.

Finally the laughter died out with sighs and a couple of giggles.

“Those were so bad,” Frisk said, grinning.

“Ah, those are the best kind.” Sans sighed one more time and got up, holding out his hand for Frisk. She took it and stood up. She turned to look where they fell from.

“Man, we rolled quite a distance. I think we’re gonna have to go around the base of the mountain to the path that leads to the cabins.”

“That can wait,” Sans said quietly, putting a hand on Frisk’s shoulder and turning her around to face the direction he was. There was a couple of pickup trucks driving down the road, one pulling a caravan. Frisk and Sans hid behind a tree, watching them. They stopped on the edge of the road and at least seven men out, looking around. They started talking, but they were too far away to be understood.

“Hey, you know sign language, so you can read lips, right?” Sans asked quietly.

“Yeah.” She paused, watching. “Looks like they’ve decided to make camp here since it’s getting late.” One man with a long gun climbed the caravan, took out binoculars, and slowly spun in a circle. Frisk and Sans hid behind their trees for a couple of minutes, nervously watching each other.

“What is that?” Sans asked.

“A gun. It’s a human weapon that basically fires a small bit of metal faster than the speed of sound with a tiny explosion. They’re designed to kill,” Frisk said venomously.

When they peaked around again, the man was off of the caravan. All of them were setting up tents, building a fire, preparing food, or doing an inventory check.

“Sans, I have to talk to them. They might have supplies. Or at the very least, they can tell me what happened,” Frisk said.

“Frisk, _no_ . That is such a bad idea, you don’t even know-” Before Sans could finish his sentence, Frisk left. “ _Frisk!_ ” He quietly hissed, hiding behind his tree better.

The men spun around in her direction, hearing her footsteps. “Hello!” She said kindly. The men stared, slack-jawed.

“The hell you doin’ ‘round here?” One of the men asked.

“Well… I was just in the neighborhood, and-”

“How come y’ain’t got no rashes?” Another asked. _Rashes? What is he-?_ Frisk looked closer and noticed all of the men had circular rashes going up their necks and across their faces, on their hands, and on their legs.

“Uh…”

“Gentlemen, please,” the one with the gun said, jumping off of the back of a pickup truck. “Is that any way to treat a lady?” He sauntered over to her and brushed her hair back. He reeked of cigarettes and sour body odor. Frisk took a step back. The man smiled and retracted his hand. His teeth were yellow.

“Where’d you come from, little girl?”

“Um…” Frisk didn’t want to say she came from the mountain. She had a really bad feeling about these men.

“What’s the matter, cat got your tongue?” The man said, grabbing her cheeks. Frisk scowled and pulled away.

 _Get out of here. Run,_ Frisk thought. “I’m sure you all are _very_ nice people but I really have to get going,” she said, backing up. “Y’know, with the whole apocalypse and everything.”

The man grabbed Frisk’s arm, pulling her closer. “But’cha just got here, sweetheart,” the man said, smiling creepily.

“I wanna see if she got rashes under them clothes,” one of them men said, walking up to her. Frisk tried yanking her arm away, but the man held on tighter and pulled her close as the other man got closer. “ _SAAAANS!_ ” She screamed, kicking and flailing.

“Let. The girl. Go.” Sans was on the opposite side of them, near the trucks. He had somehow snuck there while the men were distracted. A menacing scowl was spread across his face, casting a menacing shadow. His hands were behind his back.

“What in the hell?” One of the men said.

“A talking skeleton,” the man holding Frisk said, as if he saw an old friend for the first time.

“Remember the monsters you locked away a hundred and ten years ago?” He asked.

Realization came to the men. At first they looked scared but then it turned into amusement.

“Anyway, I’m not here for chitchat. You’re holding one of the only two things I hold dear in my life. So, I’ve got a question for ya. Do you think the worst person can change? That everybody can be a good person, if they just try? Heh heh heh…” Sans’ eyes closed. “Alright. Here’s a better question.” His eyes opened again and the eyelights were gone. “Do you wanna have a bad time? Cause if you don’t let her go… You are _really_ not gonna like what happens next.”

A couple of men ran towards Sans and the man picked Frisk up, throwing her over his shoulder.

“Welp. Sorry, kid. This is why I never make promises.” He dodged out of the men’s way, always just out of reach. “Birds are singing, flowers are blooming…” Sans jumped back. “On days like these, scum like you…” Sans brought his arms out from his back, holding two long crowbars.

“ **Sh o u l d  b e  b u r n i n g  i n  h e l l.** ”

He threw the crowbars with all his might. They both went straight through the two men’s heads, killing them. He dodged the bullets raining on him effortlessly. He got closer to the men shooting at him and quickly got into one of their faces, grabbing the barrel and aiming into the sky. He was grinning wildly. The man got so scared he dropped his weapon and ran away.

“ _Sans!_ ” Frisk screamed. Sans looked over and saw Frisk on the ground, being held down by the man. The sudden distraction caused a couple of men to grab Sans and another to smack the butt of his gun against his head. He fell to his knees as he became dizzy and his sight became blurry. He winced as a sharp migraine exploded in his head.

The man chuckled darkly, his breath reeking of rot. “Don’t tell me you two are _together_ ,” he said, smiling scornfully at Sans. “I’m feeling nice today, so I’ll do you a favor. I’ll show you how it’s _really_ done before I send a bullet through your skull for killing my men.”

Frisk started hyperventilating. “No…” She said quietly. The man pushed her shirt up, revealing her stomach. “ _NO!_ ” She squirmed with all of the strength she had. She started hitting the man and he grabbed her arm, forcefully slamming it on the ground.

“Leave her alone!” Sans yelled weakly, his head still spinning. The man marvelled at Frisk’s skin.

“Such beautiful skin you’ve got, sweetheart,” he said before licking it. Frisk fought harder and started crying. She screamed loudly, hoping anyone would hear her. Halfway through her scream, the man kissed her to silence the noise. She gagged at the taste of poor dental hygiene and cigarettes. Sans yanked an arm away and started to go to Frisk when a man kicked Sans in the back of his head, worsening his migraine.

Sans looked away as he could do nothing to stop the man defiling Frisk. He shut his eyes and cried into the ground with muffled sobs. All he could hear were her screams.

Suddenly, a sound came from the woods- rapid footsteps. It seemed Sans noticed them before anyone else, so he weakly opened his eyes to see Asriel rocketing down the mountain with his arms outstretched backwards, large fireballs in his palms. He jumped off of a fallen tree stump, spinning in the air to create a wave of fire as he came back down. The wave of fire hit the men, setting them on fire. Sans took this opportunity to sprint, grabbing a crowbar on the way, to Frisk and help her to safety back in the woods.

The men swatted the fire off of them as they ran around, yelling. They looked to see Asriel still sprinting at them. He lifted his arms as colorful energy crackled from his hands. Lightning struck the ground, hitting the men.  A couple ran away as the others regained their composure and grabbed guns. Asriel laughed.

“C’mon! Let’s see what good your _determination_ is against _this!_ ” He raised his arms again, as he smiled with a wild look in his eyes. Meteors flew out of his hands, shaking the ground and striking the men as they shot at him. He maniacally laughed as he called upon large energy stars and fireballs.

Sans peeked around his tree when he heard the gunfire stop. The grass was on fire in patches on the ground, the trucks were smashed, and there was charred goop on the ground. Sans grimaced as he saw Asriel laughing, stomping on the goop.

Chara ran down the mountain, followed by Toriel and Asgore. Chara sprinted to Asriel.

“Azz, stop!” He said, tackling Asriel. “What the hell are you doing!?”

Asriel’s laughter slowed. “The humans,” he said, smiling. “They were hurting them. _Horrible_ things, I had to, they were gonna kill them. Humans, the humans, atrocious fucking creatures,” Asriel said, starting to laugh again. Chara smacked Asriel across the face as hard as he could to bring him back to his senses.

Frisk couldn’t stop crying and throwing up. She was shaking and refused to be touched by anyone, sharply pulling away from them if they got too close. Sans explained what happened to everyone, tears falling down his jawline.

“I couldn’t stop them,” he said. “I tried. My magic was gone so I couldn’t- I couldn’t _help_ her, all I could do was listen.”

Toriel hugged Sans and assured him it wasn’t his fault. Asgore surveyed the scene in disbelief, mouth slightly open.

  
  ☢️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~☢️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~☢️ **  
**

 

When they arrived at the cabin, the rest of the monsters were waiting for them outside. Chara was the first to go inside, followed by Asriel, Sans, and Frisk. Asgore told them what Sans told him, causing faces of sympathy and horror. Alphys hurried inside to tend to Sans’ wounds and to make sure Frisk was okay. Thankfully Sans didn’t sustain any injuries that broke the bone. He insisted he was fine and denied any food that was offered to him.

Frisk, however, was not okay. She spent over an hour in the cabin’s shower and only came out when Toriel begged her to several times. She wouldn’t look at anyone and anytime she’d try to speak, a knot in her throat prevented any words from coming out. She climbed into bed with Sans and went to sleep, facing away from him. Sans so desperately wanted to hug her, but he knew that’s not what she needed right now. He stayed awake, thinking about how he could have stopped Frisk, Papyrus, and Toriel from getting hurt. He cursed himself and mentally beat himself up for hours.

Everyone decided it was best to go to sleep for the night. Toriel checked on Sans and Frisk and was surprised to see him still awake, sitting up.

“Can’t sleep?” She quietly asked.

“Nah. My head hurts too bad to sleep,” he said. It wasn’t true.

“Well, get some later if you can. Sleep is very important. I’m going to bed as well.”

“Good night, Tori.”

“Good night, Sans.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sans loses his magic and develops PTSD from not being able to save Papyrus and Toriel from an Ursiduo and Frisk from being hurt.  
> Frisk gets another from of PTSD.  
> Asriel becomes crazed and decides he hates humans after a group of men hurt Sans and Frisk.


	5. A Skeleton and his Dog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans meets a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UGH I'm so sorry this is super late. I had a big scare with some medicine and it really rocked my world. I'm also sorry this chapter is lacking in oomf. I had serious troubles writing it and getting it in the direction I needed it to go. I do have plans for another character arc, so look forward to that! I promise the next chapter won't take so long <3

Sunlight filtered through the windows, softly illuminating the dust gently floating in the rooms. Birds were chirping, interrupted only by a woodpecker tapping on a tree trunk once in a while. The air was still and warm; almost too warm for a blanket. The only sounds that were heard were breathing in each room, birds, and an occasional wooden creak coming from the support beams.

Frisk had woken up in a panic once or twice during the night, and Sans was awake each time to calm her down. He was still awake now, watching the particles in the air gently float in the sun beam. His eyelids were uneven and his mouth was slightly open. He was in some sort of trance.

Frisk stirred in her sleep and turned over, sighing deeply. Her eyes fluttered open and got excited for a moment, seeing Sans. But then she remembered what happened yesterday and all traces of joy were sucked away.

“Hey,” Sans said, looking down at Frisk.

“Hey.”

“You holdin’ on?”

“...Yeah.”

“Things’ll get better, kiddo. I’m just sorry I wasn’t strong enough to save you.”

“It’s definitely not your fault, Sans. It’s mine. I shouldn’t have followed you and I shouldn’t have caused us to fall down the mountain and I shouldn’t have went up-”

“Frisk,” Sans interrupted. “You had no way of knowing they were bad guys. You were excited to see humans other than Chara for the first time in ten years. You’re okay. I’m okay. Everything is okay.”

Frisk didn’t answer. She sat up, sighed and stretched, and started to leave the room. “I’m gonna take a shower. Get some sleep,” she said as she left.

Sans sighed deeply and got up. He went to Papyrus’ room and gently opened the door. He peered in, making sure he was doing okay. Sans saw an eyepatch on him and smiled.

He quietly checked on everyone else before grabbing his backpack and crowbar, going outside, and doing a perimeter sweep. When he was done, he sat against the cabin, next to the front door. He set his backpack and crowbar next to him. He violently shook his head, trying to wake himself up. Normally he was a very tired monster, but this felt like a completely different sense of exhaustion. He blinked hard a couple times and stared off into the trees, listening for movement. 

A gentle breeze kissed his face, smelling sweetly of dew and grass. Songbirds sang happily. The greens and browns of the forest melded together as his eyelids drooped, only to be snapped awake again. The grass he sat on was remarkably soft.  He shook his head again. Sunlight warmed his cheeks. His eyelids became too heavy. He fell asleep.

He woke up what seemed like seconds later to a warm, wet sensation on his leg. His eyes groggily fluttered open and looked down at himself.

He jumped, retracting his legs and arms. It jumped too, startled by the sudden movement.

It was a dog. It looked like a large long-haired German Shepherd with Australian Shepherd markings and colors. It had two tails.

The dog lowered its head, raising a paw. Its tails were lowered but slightly wagging. It licked its nose.

The two stared at each other for a long time, not sure what to do. “...Hey, buddy,” Sans said finally, slowly relaxing his tensed body. He hesitantly held out a hand for the dog to sniff. The dog gently sniffed his hand before rubbing its face against it, perking up its ears and wagging its tails normally. It jumped onto Sans and licked his cheek.

“Heh heh. You’re quite the friendly one, huh?” The dog got off of him and looked away, watching a squirrel run up a tree. Sans noticed the dog was a bit too skinny. “Are ya hungry, pup?” The dog snapped its head back to Sans, as if it knew what he was asking. Sans took out his hot dog and hesitated before unwrapping it and giving it to the dog. “Don’t worry. It’s not actually made from dogs. It’s not the freshest, but… I don’t think you mind,” he said, watching the dog gratefully scarf it down. Sans took this moment to peek downwards.

“Okay. So you’re a boy. What should I call you?” Sans thought for a moment. “How does Scout sound?”

Scout lifted his head after eating the whole thing and panted happily, wagging his tails.

“Yeah? It’s a keeper, then.” Sans pet Scout’s head. “I guess I have a dog now,” he said in amused disbelief. He stretched and got up. He started to go inside but felt eyes on him and turned to Scout. His head was tilted and his tails were slowly wagging.

“You can come in this once, but be quiet.” He opened the door and stepped to the side to let Scout in. He happily bounded up the stairs and into the cabin, immediately jumping on the couch and laying down.

“Sure are accustomed to people,” Sans said quietly.

“Who’re you talking to?” Frisk asked, coming out of the bathroom.

“Uh-” Sans froze. “Do you like dogs?” He blurted out.

“Yeah, why?” Frisk turned her head and saw Scout sitting on the couch. She covered her face. “Oh, my god!” She exclaimed, trying to be quiet. She squatted and held out her arms, smiling widely. “C’mere, puppy!”

Scout jumped off of the couch and ran into Frisk’s arms, shaking his leg when she scratched his back. “What a pretty thing you are.”

Sans beamed, excited Frisk was smiling and happy. Maybe this dog is a good thing. “His name’s Scout,” he said.

“Awwww, who’s a good Scout? Huh?” Scout seemed to enjoy the attention immensely. He rolled on his back, flopping his tongue out. Frisk pet his belly, giggling.

“I HEAR HUMAN CHILD LAUGHTER,” Papyrus said loudly, quickly opening his door and grinning. “Oh! A dog?” Papyrus walked up to them, watching Frisk and Scout.

“Yeah. Found ‘im outside while I was doing a perimeter sweep,” Sans said. “How ya feelin’?”

“ _ Much _ better. I do have a slight headache, but that’s all!”

Sans smiled. “That’s good.” Sans was happy. Frisk was happy. Papyrus was happy. He closed his eyes, feeling relaxed. Everything was okay.

The commotion caused everyone else to come out of their rooms and excitedly pet Scout, except for Asriel, who had a constant hundred yard stare and seemed slightly out of it. Alphys marvelled at Scout’s two tails, going into a big spiel about the effects of radiation and how it affects plants and animals.

It seemed everyone was in a much better mood today. The sun was shining without a cloud in the sky, Scout played with everyone, and they even found a rabbit with small antlers. They were glad not all mutations were grotesque and bent on killing.

They spent the day exploring the surrounding forest. They found the river that went through the city and everyone but Sans and Mettaton played in the water.

“You haven’t said much,” Sans said, watching everyone play.

“Mm, yes. I’ve noticed,” Mettaton responded, putting a flower into his hair.

“Regret coming out of the mountain?”

“Only a little. However, helping my friends out does have a much bigger priority than being the Underground’s  _ biggest  _ star, you know.”

“Oh, of course. I’m glad ya did. Papyrus looks so cool with his new getup.”

Mettaton giggled. “He sure does. Especially with an eyepatch.”

“Yeah,” Sans said, smiling. “Hopefully he won’t need it for too long.”

Asriel playfully headbutted Chara. He must have hit a little too hard, because Chara fell into the water. He got up and played off his irritation.

Scout got tired from playing and came up to Sans, licking his fingers. Sans pet his head. He was grateful to have something to curb his stress.

Sans thought for a moment, looking at everyone in the river. He wondered if it was okay to take a walk.  _ Surely they can take care of themselves, right? At least they have magic. _ Sans grimaced bitterly at the thought.

He contemplated for a long time, having good reasons to both stay and leave. He sighed deeply. “I’m goin’ for a walk. C’mon, Scout.” Scout bounded after Sans as he started walking through the forest.

He walked with his hands in his pockets, completely out of it. Even tripping over roots and rocks didn’t seem to snap him out of it. He just stared ahead with his eyes half lidded. Scout seemed happy, stopping to smell flowers and random scents on tree trunks and leafy plants.

Sans’ relaxed face slowly turned into a scowl as his daydreams turned into anxious thoughts and flashbacks of his friends getting hurt. All he could think about was Papyrus getting severely injured and not being able to help. Then his thoughts turned to Frisk. He wasn’t able to help her. What would they have done if Asriel hadn’t intervened?

His thoughts snapped back to reality as Scout tugged hard on Sans’ jacket, pulling him backwards. He landed on his backside and blinked hard, realizing what just happened. Scout made a “boof” sound and sneezed, walking around to nudge him further away from the cliff.

Sans stood up and looked over the cliff. The height was dizzying. Scout licked Sans’ fingers, causing him to look down at the dog. “Good boy,” he said, petting his head. “If you hadn’t done that, I’d probably be boned. Heh.” He giggled, slowly turning into a laugh. His laughing ceased with a sharp pain in his head. He winced and put a hand up to his temple. 

He looked over the cliff again and noticed movement on the ground below. There was a long dirt road heading away from the city. A huge truck pulling an even longer enclosed trailer sped along the road, kicking up dust and creating a cloud. There was a human on top of the trailer. Sans could hear gunfire and shifted his gaze to see what the human was shooting at, and in the dust cloud he could barely make out a large black figure with four long legs. It couldn’t have been the thing they saw earlier, that was a lot skinnier than this thing. It finally fell to the ground and the human let out a victorious yell. He climbed back into the truck.

“Huh. Neato,” Sans said. He turned and started heading back to everyone else.

When he got back, he found Asriel and Chara rough housing, butting heads and trying to throw the other into the water. Frisk was on Asgore’s shoulders, laughing at Undyne, Papyrus, and Alphys chasing each other. Toriel sat on a tree stump, making flower crowns and humming to herself. Mettaton had one on. It was blue.

Sans smiled and sighed, closing his eyes. Maybe things won’t be so bad.


	6. The Tall, Dark Stranger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asriel deals with his strange new feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to check out the tumblr for neat little extras!  
> https://apocalyptale-au.tumblr.com/

Asriel couldn’t sleep well that night. He tossed and turned, trying to shake off this new feeling that had arisen after saving Sans and Frisk. It made him restless, it made him clench his jaw and curl his fingers, it made him scowl.

It made him want to hurt others.

Hurt _humans._

He had been having dark thoughts ever since the event happened, but tonight it was particularly troubling. He shook his head. “My best friend is a human,” he muttered to himself in the dark. “He’s my _brother_.”

His mind wandered to the vague memory of when they were kids. When Chara got sick and he brought him to the surface. How _angry_ the other humans were. How spiteful they were, how ungrateful they were, how disgusting, filthy creatures they were.

Asriel growled and shut his eyes tightly. He had a strange feeling in his gut. It was tingly and kind of warm. He scoffed bitterly and got out of bed. “I need some air.”

He stopped at the door and looked back at Chara sleeping on the top bunk. His brow furrowed. He left before any more darkness invaded his mind.

As he walked through the cabin, flashbacks of the humans hurting Sans and Frisk played through his mind. “ _Disgusting_ ,” he said quietly. “Vile _fucking_ scum.” His shoulders were slightly slumped and his eyes became jaded, unfocused and half closed. He slowly walked across the hallway and into the family room, quietly mumbling to himself and smiling.

He walked outside, tripping on the steps and falling. His mind snapped back to reality and he rolled on his back, holding his knee and wincing. He sharply inhaled through his teeth and kicked the steps with a grunt. He stood back up and shut the door. “Why do I keep thinking these things?” He asked himself as he walked alongside the cabin. “It’s not right,” he muttered. And yet, all he could think about was the immense joy he had in murdering the humans.

Asriel scowled and immediately threw up. He started crying, propping himself against the cabin with a paw. He threw up again, this time only stomach acid came out. He coughed, flicking the tears off his face. He sobbed, punching the cabin once to distract himself from the taste of bile.

“Asriel?”

Asriel snapped his head around to see Chara standing on the porch. The burn and taste of acid caused his snout to curl up into a snarl. It startled Chara.

“...Always were a crybaby, huh?” Chara jokingly said, hoping to lighten the mood.

Asriel snapped. Without thinking, he lunged at Chara and tackled him to the ground.

“Asr-” Before Chara could finish what he was saying, Asriel swiped his claw over Chara’s face, breaking the skin. Chara gasped to scream and Asriel covered his mouth to stop it.

“You’re all the same,” he said harshly. He punched Chara hard in the face, stinging his knuckles. Chara started crying. Asriel’s fingers dug into Chara’s face, drawing blood. He raised his arm to strike again when he looked into Chara’s eyes. Chara looked up at Asriel with pleading eyes, tears spilling down his cheeks. Tears stung the cuts.

Asriel paused.

“What… Chara…? Oh, god, how…” Asriel got up and backed away from Chara. “I’m so sorry, Chara, I’m sorry, I- I…”

Chara wiped some of the blood from his face and looked at it on his hand. It glistened in the moonlight.

“I don’t know what came over me Chara, I didn’t mean to,” Asriel said, holding his face and crying. He could already see the black forming around Chara’s eye.

Chara got up and looked at Asriel before silently walking back into the cabin. He stood there for a long time, processing what just happened.

He denied the thoughts. “There’s no way I just did that,” he said quietly. He looked at his claws, blood still on them. The sight of blood stirred something within him. Monsters didn’t have blood. He turned to see if Chara was watching him. He didn’t see him, so Chara must have gone back to bed.

He turned his attention back to the blood on his claws. He felt… excited? Scared? Whatever it was, it was thrilling.

And he hated it.

He curiously brought his claws to his nose and sniffed the blood. It smelled metallic. He licked the blood off of one of his claws, and the warm, tingly feeling from before came back. He didn’t know why he did that, but part of him was happy he did. It tasted good. He licked the rest of the blood off of his claws until they were completely clean.

Asriel realized what he had done. He was concerned because he didn’t feel as much guilt as he thought he should be feeling. He swallowed nervously, the metallic tang still in his mouth.

It was strange, he felt guiltier at the fact that he didn’t feel completely guilty about what just happened. Asriel headed back inside and laid on the couch in the family room. He fell asleep some time later, all the while thinking about how strangely satisfying it felt to hurt Chara.

  
☢️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~☢️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~☢️

 

Asriel awoke to the sound of the others conversing in the family room. He yawned, baring his teeth, and rubbed his eyes. He had completely forgotten about last night until he saw Chara. Guilt hit him like a freight train. Chara had washed the blood from the cuts, but his eye was swollen and dark purple. The skin around the cuts were bright red. Frisk and Toriel were asking him what happened. Asriel was about to speak up when Chara said he went outside to get some air the night before and an animal attacked him.

Asriel closed his mouth and tightened his jaw. _Why did he say that? Why didn’t he tell them it was me?_

They must have bought the story. Chara turned to look at Asriel and smiled like nothing happened. “Morning, Prongs,” Chara said to Asriel.

Asriel stared for a moment, wondering if what happened actually _did_ happen. “Mornin’, Care Bear.”

Chara smiled and grimaced at the name. He wished he hadn’t told Asriel about that show when they were kids.

“Good morning, dear,” Toriel said.

“Morning!” Frisk happily sang.

“Good morning, mom, Frisk,” he said, smiling and nodding at the two.

Sans walked into the room, followed by Scout. He had dark circles under his eyes. After everyone gathered in the room, they all ate something. Except for Sans, who was conveniently “too busy” to eat at that moment.

Sans wanted to go scavenge for supplies. Frisk and Papyrus wanted to come along, to which Sans agreed. Chara asked if he and Asriel could come too. Sans agreed to that as well.

They headed out of the cabin and down the mountain, conversing and joking. Asriel noticed Chara didn’t seem at all phased at what happened last night. In fact, he seemed… happier? He was smiling and joking more than usual. It bothered Asriel. For a split second, he had a flash of a thought.

_I’ll wipe that stupid smile off your fucking face._

The thought startled Asriel. He looked away and shook his head, clearing his thoughts. He sighed. It was exhausting to deal with these new emotions and feelings.

Sans made a pun about the crowbar he twirled in his hand, causing a distraught noise from Papyrus. Chara and Frisk laughed. The noise sounded like sandpaper to Asriel.

When they got to the bottom of the mountain, Sans led them in a direction he seemed to be following on purpose. Scout was far ahead, sniffing the ground and listening intently, occasionally looking back to make sure his skeleton friend was still there.

“Where are we going, Sans?” Papyrus asked.

“I dunno,” he lazily said, smiling.

“Well, you must have an idea of where! We can’t just _wander_ , you know!”

“‘Course we can.” Sans, of course, _did_ know where he was going. He just didn’t want to tell anyone.

They continued to walk, always sticking to the edge of the treeline bordering the mountain next to a river. Sans kept glancing up the mountain, trying to figure out where the cliff he was on the day before was. They walked for about an hour, all the while Asriel was fighting back his thoughts. He felt like he shouldn’t have come. It was making him sick.

Frisk saw Asriel holding his stomach with a strange expression. “Hey, Asriel, are you okay?”

Asriel’s eye twitched. He turned and managed a smile. “Of course!  I must have, er… eaten too fast, heh.” He looked at Chara and noticed his expression. It looked like Chara knew what was going on. It was almost expressionless, yet his eyes said a thousand words and pierced his soul, judging him. Asriel looked away and tried to keep cool and collected. _You’re just being paranoid._

After more walking, Scout came running back to Sans and made a gentle “boof” sound. He sniffed the air in the direction they were heading. “Over here, guys,” he said quietly, ducking into denser cover. Everyone followed suit, wondering why they were hiding. Scout crept along as well, hiding behind a bush.

“Is there a mutant?” Chara asked.

“Nah,” Sans said, crouching behind a tree trunk and peering around it.

Everyone followed his gaze and noticed movement. Across the river, some humans had made what looked like a camp in a small clearing. It was the same humans that Sans saw. The same truck was there, the trailer still behind it. The truck was splattered with black, dark red, and vile green colors. There was a large machine to the side of the camp with a girl making adjustments to it. Three men sat in the center of the camp, all doing various chores.

The sight of more humans caused Asriel to snap. His sight locked onto them, heart pounding. He sprinted towards them as fast as he could, raising an arm to summon an attack.

Sans shot out an arm but remembered his magic was gone. He quickly turned his head to Papyrus. “ _Paps!_ ” He harshly whispered.

Papyrus’s eyes widened worriedly. He made a sound of hesitation and held out his hand. Asriel’s soul glowed blue and was snapped back, quickly being hidden behind a tree. He was given to Sans who held Asriel’s mouth shut and his arms at his sides.

“The hell is wrong with ya, kid!?” Sans whispered. Asriel struggled, trying to get free.

The humans looked in their direction and raised their weapons, completely still and silent. The monsters, Frisk, and Chara tried to keep just as still and quiet. Asriel still struggled, causing noise. Chara had to tightly wrap his hand around Asriel’s snout and tell him to stop. He bared his teeth and growled. Chara punched Asriel in the temple, knocking him out. He looked at Frisk who had a ‘What the hell!?’ look. Chara responded back with a look that said ‘What else was I supposed to do?’

They stayed quiet for what felt like an hour. Finally one of the humans said something. Another responded back and set down their weapons. Frisk made eye contact with Sans. His eyes urged her to stay put for a little while longer.

Sans peered around the tree and made sure the humans lost interest. They looked busy again. Sans sighed with relief and turned back around. He nodded and everyone got up, quietly leaving the way they came. Papyrus carried Asriel on his shoulder.

When they were safely out of range, Frisk looked up at Asriel. “Why did he do that?”

Sans sighed. “Beats me. If we didn’t have Papyrus’ blue magic, we’d be in a huge mess.”

“Sans… You know how I feel about using it if I don’t have to,” Papyrus said anxiously.

“I know, bro. I’m sorry. But the kid went crazy and we had to keep ‘im from doin’ something stupid. Did you see all that stuff they had? They were obviously stronger than the humans from before.”

“He _has_ been acting strange since he saved us,” Frisk noted.

“He’s most likely stressed,” Papyrus said, hoping for an innocent reason.

“Hopefully,” Frisk said, sighing. “I know we’re all a little stressed.”

“Stress doesn’t cause you to abandon all common sense and _murder_ people,” Sans said bitterly. “Somethin’s up with the kid. From now on, let’s keep an eye on him.”

  
  ☢️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~☢️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~☢️

Asriel woke up just before they got back to the cabin. He rubbed his head. “...Ow...” Papyrus gently set him on the ground. “My apologies, your majesty. Was I walking too roughly?”

Asriel looked up at Papyrus. “What?” He looked at everyone else. “What happened? Why do you all look so worried?”

“...Ya kinda went a little bonkers again,” Sans said gently. “When you saw the humans. Chara had to knock you out. Otherwise they would have seen us.”

Asriel looked scared. Maybe a little sick too. He looked at Chara. Chara rubbed the back of his head and smiled. “Knocking you out was the only option. Sorry, man.”

Asriel thought hard and remembered just before he snapped. He doesn’t remember anything after taking cover behind a tree. He grimaced. “I’m going inside.” Without another word, he went inside and hid himself away in his room.

Everyone looked at each other, worried. Something was clearly wrong. They went inside as well. Scout stayed outside after Sans gave him some food. Sans sighed and plopped on the couch next to Undyne and Alphys.

“How’d it go?” Asked Undyne.

“We saw some humans camped at the base of the mountain. Across the river. We didn’t talk to ‘em, though.”

Alphys beamed. “Did they look friendly?” She excitedly said, perking up.

“Eeehh,” Sans said, rubbing the side of his skull. “Who can really say?”

“It _is_ kind of hard to judge other humans based on what happened to Frisk and Sans,” Asgore said, sitting in an armchair that was three sizes too small for him.

“It doesn’t hurt to give them a chance,” Toriel said gently.

Everyone was silent. Each of them had a different opinion on humans. Sans rested his against his hand, his elbow on the couch arm rest. He thought, looking at his hand. He tried to summon his magic again, to no avail. He was hit with sudden realization and perked up.

“Guys, everyone needs to use their magic. Right now.”

“What? W- why?” Alphys asked.

“What if I’m not the only one whose magic is affected?” Sans said urgently.

Everyone became worried and held out a hand, checking their magic. Except for Mettaton, who doesn’t have magic.

Sparks of yellow electricity came from Alphys’ claw.

A fireball manifested in Asgore’s and Toriel’s paw.

Papyrus’s blue bone flickered. He strained to keep it tangible. “Sans,” he whined. He sounded scared. Sans got up and rushed to him, watching the flickering magic. Sans pushed Papyrus’ arm down, dispersing his magic. He hugged him. “Hey, shh, it’s gonna be okay. You haven’t lost it yet. You- you’re probably just tired from using your blue magic. Tomorrow it’ll be stronger.”

Sans’ hug was interrupted by the sound of panicked breathing. He looked over. It was coming from Undyne.

“U- Undyne?” Alphys said anxiously. “W- what’s wrong?”

Undyne stared down at her hand, eyes wide. “My magic’s gone.”

Alphys gasped, putting her claws to her face. Small pinpricks of water formed in the corners of her eyes. Undyne got up and walked out of the cabin. “Un- Undyne!” Alphys called after her. Undyne ignored her.

“She’ll be okay. She’ll be back,” Asgore said. “She just needs to blow some steam off.”

Everyone was silent for a long time, all on edge. Suddenly, in the distance they heard Undyne scream in anger and the sound of an exploding tree.

An hour had passed since Undyne left. Sans was doing a perimeter check with Scout. Papyrus was playing a game with Frisk and Alphys. Toriel and Asgore were singing and playing an old, dusty guitar they found in the attic. Chara sat on the couch, trying to hide his smile. Asriel quietly came out of his room just as Sans came back inside. Asriel avoided eye contact with anyone and sat in a chair next to the couch, in the far side of the room.

“Sans! Come play this game with us!” Frisk said happily, smiling.

“Okay. Whatcha playin’?”

“It’s a human child game called Fortunately Unfortunately!” Papyrus said excitedly.

“How do you play it?” Sans asked, sitting down on the floor next to Frisk and Papyrus. Scout laid down in between Papyrus and Alphys.

“Okay, so what you do is someone says ‘Fortunately, such and such’, and the next person says ‘Unfortunately, such and such’! Here, we’ll demonstrate. Once there was a skeleton who had a dog,” Frisk said smiling.

“Unfortunately, the dog ate all of the skeleton’s ketchup!” Papyrus said triumphantly.

Sans clutched his chest in fear. “I don’t like this game.”

“F- fortunately, the dog produces twice the amount of ketchup after ingesting it!” Alphys said, hoping to keep it in good mood.

“Okay, now I _really_ don’t like this game,” Sans said, grimacing.

“It’s your turn, Sans!” Frisk said.

“Alright,” Sans said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Uhhh… Unfortunately, the ketchup doesn’t come out in bottles.”

“Fortunately, it was golden ketchup! So the skeleton could sell it at a high price and get more normal ketchup,” Frisk said.

“Unfortunately, none of the shop owners will pay for a condiment,” Papyrus said, thinking it was rather silly. Golden ketchup couldn’t possibly exist.

“Fortunately, th- the cool scientist found a w- way to turn the golden ketchup into g- gold bars!” Alphys said.

“Unfortunately, that inflated the economy too much and caused everything to raise in price causing income to be lowered, thus causing the lower and middle class to suffer and become further impoverished whereas the upper class will benefit from it, however the country will go further into debt, furthering the drop in income and jobs which means health care will become inaccessible and the younger generations are forced to clean up the economic mess caused by this dog who ate all of the skeleton’s ketchup,” Sans said, smiling.

Everyone gawked at him. Just then, Undyne came back inside, looking sweaty and worn out. It looked like she was physically exerting herself a bit too much.

“Undyne!” Alphys called out happily, getting up and running to her. She hugged her and then retracted. “W- why are you covered in sweat?”

“Fufufufu! I realized since my magic is gone, I have to up the ante in my physical strength! Just because I lost something doesn’t make me weaker. In fact, I’m gonna become stronger than before!” Undyne struck a pose and smiled widely, laughing.

Undyne’s attitude filled everyone with determination. Even Asriel managed to smile after realizing she must have lost her magic too.

“You’re right, Undyne!” Papyrus said, getting up. “Even if all of us lose our magic, we can still be strong!”

“Yeah!” Frisk cheered, punching the air.

Everyone was excited until a knock at the door startled them. They stared at the door, frozen. Frisk turned her head to look at Sans, who quietly got up and retrieved his crowbar from the table. A louder knock came from the door again. Everyone looked at each other with scared, confused looks. It seemed like forever until Frisk mustered the determination to walk up to the door.

She turned the knob with metallic clinks, followed by the slow, harsh creak of the wood and rusty door hinges.

On the doorstep stood a large human. He was smiling, looking straight ahead, obviously expecting the person opening the door to be the same height. His smile vanished, seeing the monsters. They shared mutual expressions of shock and confusion. The man looked down at Frisk.

“Hello!” Frisk said as nicely as she could.

“H- …Howdy,” the man slowly responded with a thick Texan accent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHOA WHAT A TWIST??? Who knows what's gonna happen next!
> 
> (i do)


	7. Jack Samuels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The stranger is welcomed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHY DO I HAVE SUCH TROUBLE WITH PLOT I'M SO SORRY YOU READ THIS GARBO

The man stared at the monsters, taking each one into account. They obviously weren’t aggressive or trying to kill him, so they weren’t strange mutants. He blinked a couple times, wondering if he had finally lost it. The man looked back down at Frisk.

“Are these… your friends?” He asked carefully. His voice was slow, dark, and rich, like molasses.

“Actually, they’re my family,” Frisk said, smiling. “Would you like to come in?”

“...Sure,” he said hesitantly. “Thank you, miss.” The man came in and sat on the couch, setting his backpack between his feet. Asgore got up and went to the kitchen. Everyone was silent, still processing the situation. The man sat with his hands in his lap, his back straight, and his shoulders back, yet he still looked casual.

The man had dark, tan skin. He had brown, shaggy hair that dropped below his ears, held up by round goggles sitting on top of his head. His eyes were a deep russet color. He had facial hair slightly darker than his hair. His hands were dirty and callused. He towered over everyone and looked like he could rival their strength except for Asgore. A rash peeked out of his brown leather bomber jacket. He wore dirty blue jeans and dusty brown boots. He had a worn red bandana tied around his neck. He smelled musty and sweet.

“I like your getup,” the man said, nodding at Frisk. They had similar jackets and red bandanas.

“Thanks! So I guess I’ll introduce you to everyone,” she said. “I’m Frisk!”

“Nice t’ meet ya, Frisk,” the man said, smiling. “Name’s Jack. Jack Samuels.” Scout came up to Jack and sniffed him, gently wagging his tail. Jack ruffled through his backpack and pulled out a can of dog food. “Are they not feeding ya? Here, Mack won’t mind.” He opened it and gave it to the dog.

“We don’t have much food, let alone dog food,” Frisk said sadly.

“Ah,” Jack said, pulling out another can and setting it on the table. “I’d give ya more, but that’s all I’m carrying on me as of now.”

“Wow, thank you!” Frisk said in shock. She wasn’t expecting humans to be so kind.

Asriel had been staring at Jack, his heart pounding. Seething rage swelled inside him but fought back any urges.

“Not a problem, darlin’,” Jack said, smiling.

“So! This is Chara. He’s a human too. He’s kinda like my brother.”

“Sup,” Chara said.

“Howdy,” Jack said, nodding and smiling.

“These are my parents, Asgore and Toriel,” Frisk said, motioning to them. “They’re king and queen of the Underground.”

“Nice to meet you,” Toriel said.

Asgore came out of the kitchen with a cup of sea tea. He handed it to Jack, smiling kindly. “Much obliged,” Jack said, smiling. “So you’re from Mount Ebott?”

“Yes,” Asgore said, nodding his head.

“Huh. Well, welcome back. Y’all are nicer than the books said you were.” Jack sipped the tea and furrowed his brow. “What is this?” He asked.

“Sea tea,” Asgore said. “It’s a monster drink. It heals you and makes you faster for a little while. I’d make you my specialty tea, but I don’t have any with me.”

“...Oh. Huh. Well, that’s alright. This is mighty fine. Thank you.” Jack sipped again, trying to place the strange, new taste.

“This is Undyne and Alphys,” Frisk said, motioning to them.

“Heya!” Undyne said, smiling widely.

“H- hello,” Alphys said meekly.

“These boneheads are Sans and Papyrus!” Frisk said, noogying Sans.

“Like the fonts?” Jack asked quizzically.

“What are fonts?” Papyrus asked Frisk quietly. She giggled, knowing he wouldn’t understand if she explained.

“This is Mettaton,” she said, looking over to him and seeing him in a dramatic pose.

“Hellooo, darling,” Mettaton sang.

“Holy smokes,” Jack said in awe.

“I get that reaction a lot,” Mettaton said, flipping his hair.

“Are you… a robot?” He asked.

“Why, yes, darling.”

“You all should come t’ our camp! I’ve got some friends who would just  _ die  _ to meet you all. I’ve got a friend who would love t’ meet you in particular, Mettaton. She really likes robots.”

Mettaton squealed in delight. “Oooh! I’ve got a fan before I even met them!”

“And last, but not least, this is also my brother, Asriel.” Everyone turned to Asriel and noticed his angry expression. “Howdy,” Jack said, confused as to why he was receiving such a nasty look.

“We’re not going with you,” Asriel said, not breaking eye contact with Jack.

Chara went up to Asriel. “Dude, what gives? He could help us. He’s  _ nice _ .”

“What if he’s just like the humans that hurt Frisk and Sans, huh? I can’t be the only one that noticed Frisk is suppressing PTSD from it.” Everyone looked at Frisk, realizing it too. The energy in the air became uneasy.

“Asriel,” Frisk said, gently scolding him. “I’m fine.”

“Humans. Are all. The same,” Asriel almost growled out, slightly lowering his head.

“If he wanted to hurt us he would have already,” Frisk said, bothered by his assumption.

“Think so? One against ten?”

“Listen, compadre. These are desperate times. If we can make friends, we do. We can’t afford enemies. If I’m not welcome here, I understand. We’ll peacefully part ways,” Jack said.

Frisk laughed nervously and waved at Asriel, motioning to ignore him. “Ignore my brother, he’s just a little grumpy. I’m sure we all agree we’d like to be friends.”

Everyone except Asriel made noises of agreement. Asriel huffed and looked away.

“Wonderful! It was nice meeting y’all, but I gotta get goin’. Y’all’re welcome at the camp any time. We’re camped at the base of the mountain over yonder. ‘Cross the river. Thank you for your hospitality.” He awkwardly half bowed to Toriel and Asgore, unsure if it was polite to do so or not.

“You’re very welcome,” Toriel said kindly, smiling.

“I look forward t’ seeing y’all. Good bye,” Jack said, waving. Everyone said their goodbyes as Jack walked through the front door. 

“He was nice,” Frisk said happily.

“You’re not  _ honestly  _ actually thinking about going to their camp, are you?” Asriel asked, furrowing his brow in disgust.

“Asriel, why have you been acting so strange recently?” Frisk snapped, crossing her arms.

“I- I just-” Asriel dropped his bitter demeanor, suddenly becoming very nervous. He looked around at everyone. He was  _ sure  _ they knew what he’s been thinking. “I just don’t want anyone to get hurt again, alright?” Asriel stood up and began walking to his room. Frisk grabbed the back of his shirt, stopping him.

“Stop. Quit running away, Azzy. I’m worried about you, mom and dad are worried about you, Chara’s worried about you. What’s wrong? Please tell us. We’re here for you,” Frisk said gently.

Asriel stood still with his head down, tears forming in his eyes. He started trembling. “I-” He let out a hiccuped sob, causing the tears to spill out. He turned around, facing Frisk. “I’m just so stressed, y’know? I care so much about you, our family, and friends, and I just want everyone to be safe. Everyone’s losing their magic and we can’t afford to be vulnerable. I’m scared and, and…” Asriel started sobbing and Frisk pulled him into an embrace. Toriel and Asgore came over and hugged him as well, followed by everyone else.

“It is going to be okay, tiny Asgore!” Papyrus said.

“Yeah! There’s no need to be scared! Even without our magic, we can still kick ass!” Undyne cheered.

“We love you, no matter what, my child,” Toriel said, tears forming in her eyes and smiling.

“We’ll protect each other. That’s what a family does,” Asgore said quietly, hugging Asriel tighter.

Asriel sniffled and let out a small chuckle. He let go and looked up at everyone, smiling. “Thank you.” He wiped his eyes. “I’m gonna lay down for a bit.” 

Asriel meekly walked to his room and entered his room, shutting the door behind him. His expression immediately became irritated, rolling his eyes. He flopped on his bed and sighed. He rubbed either sides of his snout, near his eyes.

_ Why do they have to care so much? It’s a good thing they’re so gullible. _

A knock on his door startled him. He threw his hand away from his face and sat up, looking sad again. “Come in,” he said in a pitiful voice.

Chara entered the room with his eyebrows raised. He closed the door and stared at Asriel for a long time. It made him nervous.

“Wh- what are you doing, Chara?” He asked, avoiding eye contact.

“I know what’s going on.” Chara crossed his arms.

“Y- you do!?”

“Mhmm.” Chara walked to the bed and sat down next to Asriel. “You’re going through what I went through when we were kids.”

“What do you mean?” Asriel asked, hoping Chara had the wrong idea.

Chara leaned in close, just inches from Asriel’s snout. Chara’s face had a menacing shadow cast across it and his eyes went black, dripping blacker ooze. “ _ You want to  _ **_kill_ ** _ , don’t you? _ ” He asked in a demonic voice. Chara enjoyed doing that from time to time because it freaked Asriel out. However, it didn’t have the desired effect. Instead of flinching and whining, Asriel’s face slightly scrunched up and his jaw tightened. He looked like he knew he was found out. His eyes had traces of sadness. He looked for something to say, but couldn’t find the right words. He sighed and let out a short, breathy chuckle, lowering his head.

He lifted his head up again. His eyes were jaded and a short, chilling smile spread across his face. “ _ Humans. _ ”

Chara’s face immediately went back to normal. He was shocked at Asriel’s answer. “H- ... _ only _ humans?” It frightened Chara. He had never seen Asriel so serious and intimidating before. It sent chills down his spine.

Asriel’s snout scrunched as he cast his gaze downward at his paws. “It burns. It felt so good killing those fuckers that hurt Frisk and Sans. I need to do it again. But  _ obviously  _ I can’t, and it’s driving me insane. You have no idea.”

“I do, actually,” Chara said. “But I had gotten over it a while ago. I mean, it’s still there, but it doesn’t really bother me anymore. Couldn’t care less about hurting anyone anymore.”

Asriel looked back at Chara, deep into his eyes. He felt the warm, tingly feeling trying to rise up. He tightened his jaw again and curled his fingers.

Chara swallowed nervously, noticing his body language. “Just don’t hurt anyone you care about or anyone your friends or family cares about,” he said as he got up and walked across the room. He paused just as he was about to grab the door handle. “That means yourself included.” He left, shutting the door behind him.

Asriel angrily fell back on his bed. He put a pillow over his face and growled. His gut wrenched, writhing from an onslaught of varying emotions. Guilt. Superiority. Anger. Dominant. Sadness. Homicidal.

He felt sick. He dry heaved into the pillow, tasting stomach acid in the back of his mouth. Tears formed in his eyes.

_ I can’t keep this up forever. What am I going to do? _

  
☢️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~☢️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~☢️  
  


Asriel waited until everyone went to bed that night, pretending he was asleep. He listened carefully to Chara’s breathing. When it became slow and rhythmic, he quietly got out of bed and slowly opened the door, trying his best not to make it creak. He walked through the hallway and into the kitchen. He searched the counters, carefully moving his hands over the dimly lit granite. His fingers grazed something wooden, causing his heart rate to speed up. He lifted his hand until his fingers touched something smooth and cool. His tail twitched in anticipation as he grabbed it and slowly pulled it out, causing a gentle scraping noise.

_ Shhhhing. _

Asriel brought the knife closer to him, inspecting it. He held it in the moonlight coming from the window, running his thumb perpendicular to the blade. It was in surprisingly good shape. It reflected the moonlight, showing Asriel’s grim yet concentrated expression. He pointed it upward, turning it. 

_ It’s beautiful.  _

The knife had an oak handle, stained black. The end of the handle had a small silver cap. The blade was long and sharp with a strange, barely visible pattern on it that didn’t reflect as much light as the blade itself.

He swung it to the side, seeing how it felt.  _ Chara liked these things for a reason, didn’t he?  _ A wooden creak behind him snapped him out of his thoughts. He froze, looking to the side without turning his head. He stood there for a while, listening intently. 

_ Must have been the wind. _

When he was sure nothing was there, he left the cabin, flipping and turning the knife in his hand. There was only one way to get what he wanted.


End file.
